MONTH IN BRIEF – Oct & Nov 2025

November 11, 2025 Asian Affairs

MONTH IN BRIEF

Af-Pak talks fail

Talks aimed at securing a long-term truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan ended in Istanbul with no‘workable solution’, said Pakistan’s Information Minister on Oct. 29, in a blow for peace in the region after deadly clashes earlier in October.The talks were aimed at reaching lasting peace between the South Asian neighbours after dozens were killed along their border in the worst such violence since the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021.According to a statement from Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, the Afghan side ‘kept deviating from the core issue, evading the key point upon which the dialogue process was initiated’.

China and US should be ‘partners and friends’

US President Donald Trump has met China’s leader Xi Jinping at a South Korean air base for discussions on a possible trade war truce between the world’s two largest economies. The Oct. 30 meeting in the southern part of Busan – the first between the leaders since Trump returned to office in January – rounded off the US president’s whirlwind trip around Asia.Xi told Trump that, although there were some frictions between two countries, they should strive to be ‘partners and friends’, adding that ‘China and the US can… work together to accomplish more great and concrete things for the good of our two countries and the whole world’.

Reliance will abide by sanctions

Reliance Industries, the top Indian buyer of Russian oil, will adhere to Western sanctions against Moscow while maintaining its relationship with current oil suppliers, its spokesperson said in a statement.Reliance, which operates the world’s biggest refining complex in Jamnagar in western Gujarat state, has a long-term deal to buy nearly 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil from Russian oil major Rosneft.The EU, Britain and the United States have imposed a raft of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including fresh US sanctions on October 23 targeting Russia’s two top oil producers Lukoil and Rosneft.

Downplaying Sino-German tension

China has urged Germany to take a long-term view of ties between the two economic powerhouses, seeking to downplay suggestions of growing tension after German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul postponed his first trip to Beijing.Mr Wadephul was originally due in the Chinese capital from Oct 26 on the first visit by a minister of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government, but he opted not to travel after only one of his requested meetings was confirmed with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.That prompted a senior German parliamentarian to accuse China of having provoked the cancellation due to fear of debate.

High death count in Bangladesh

Nearly 300 people have been killed in political violence in Bangladesh in the year since student-led protests toppled autocratic former leader Sheikh Hasina, the country’s main human rights group has said.A report by Odhikar, a Dhaka-based rights organisation, said at least 281 people had been killed in violence involving political parties from August 2024, when Hasina’s rule ended and she fled to India,, to September 2025. Another 40 people have been victims of extrajudicial killings, while a further 153 were lynched, thereport said.

Hong Kong subversion trial to continue

Hong Kong’s High Court has rejected an applicationby a pro-democracy activist to terminate a subversion trial involving herand a group that once organised commemorations of the Tiananmen crackdown.Chow Hang-tung, former vice-chair of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and two other former leaders, Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, face up to life imprisonment for ‘inciting subversion of state power’ under a China-imposed National Security Law. They were accused of inciting others ‘to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting state power’ between July 1, 2020, and Sept 8, 2021.

Fifteen lost in Papua floods

At least 15 people, mostly children, are missing, presumeddead after floods and landslides hit Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region after torrential rain, a local official said on Nov 3.Thirteen of the victims were children aged between eight and 17 years old, who were heading home after playing volleyball and had attempted to cross a river when the floods struck. They initially took refuge on some rocks, but the current was too strong and they were swept away.

Japanese army called in for bear cull

The governor of Japan’s mountainous northern prefecture of Akita has called for the army’s help to cull bears in orderto protect residents from a wave of attacks by the animals.Governor Kenta Suzuki’s request follows a bear attack in Akita on October 24, in which one person was killed and three others injured, amid an unprecedented number of attacks across Japan this year.The local authorities in Akita say 54 people have been killed or injured in 2025, up from 11 in 2024, while sightings have increased around sixfold to more than 8,000 incidents. Rising bear numbers and depopulation in rural areas are increasingly bringing people into contact with the animals.